The 18th Engagement (Waiting for You)
by Zinfandelli
Summary: Where Jack accidentally freezes himself to Pitch's lap. Or, Mission: Accomplished. (next part after the 17th, slow build, nothing too risque...yet...?)
1. Part 1

Hello again! This is the next chronological piece (after 17th, obvs.) I had a lot of fun writing it too. There are 2 parts (and maybe another aftermath ch. like 17th? I dunno yet, very little is planned... :| ) Uhm. lemme know what you think? If you think anything at all. This one is much better than the 9th bit i admit, that was so tedious!

* * *

Six months later. Was six months enough time? Jack had kept his patience (the hardest thing he's ever done in his life!) and waited forcing himself not to seek his enemy out. He had seen the Nightmares out and about doing their business several times at the end of his play-dates with various believers across the globe and had to stay his hand each time. If he purposefully lingered later and later to play taking kids home well into the evening, who was to say?

All this down-time gave him plenty of time to think. He'd never thought so much in his long life than when he started this game with Pitch (Ok. More lies. This just seemed harder than everything else. Ever.). He resented it a little bit but then had to justify the whole thing all over again. His thought processes came to the conclusion that he would force his friendship upon Pitch whether he admitted he liked it or not because Jack knew that he did. He didn't know to what extent but he knew there was some small sliver in that man that appreciated the company just as much as he did.

Jack also concluded that the fun was supreme and while he was invested for just that alone the encounters struck him a bit deeper. The whole process had him discovering more about himself than he was comfortable with. He wasn't sure whether embarrassment or shame was the right thing to feel. Fighting with Pitch made him feel solid. All those years of intangibility were nothing compared to a punch in the face…maybe they made the contact that much more potent?

He relished in those brief violent touches. They were so different from the hugs and pats he also longed for from the others and the children he played with. They had so much feeling behind them! The sentiment behind a hug was great, yeah, but it was all just friendly and somewhat distant? Only Jamie could give a real heartfelt hug that squeezed the breath right out of the sprite. Not even North's crushing bear's embrace had as much passion behind it as a dripping cut from a sandy scythe.

This is what gnawed at him and made him so impatient. This is what he rashly destroyed with a single word. This is what he will do his damnedest to retrieve. Selfish? Yeah. But what is a little selfishness in the face of eternity, eh?

And with that, Jack set off to chase shadows once more.

It was another 3 months before he found anything in them.

Jack wanted to do this carefully. Ideally he would stage the confrontation in the daylight so as to pin the Boogeyman more easily, but damn! Finding the guy was worse than misplacing that one snowflake in a blizzard! (And he was not waltzing right into the man's home again, that's for sure.)

He had gotten a few glimpses of a deeper more tangible shadow but came up empty upon further inspection. He was starting to think the guy was actively avoiding him like some pouty child. So, he took to evening games with kids spacing them out fewer and farther between to give him more time to chase the night as it ran across the globe.

And then there it was. On a completely disadvantageous night over some nameless town in flat mid-west North America low dense clouds drizzled a steady rain. Great. No moon for any light and even less visibility with the water. Rain was Jack's least favorite weather. His coldness froze the stuff right on him plastering his hair to his skull freezing it in dripping clumpy icicles, his hoodie stiff with chilling water.

This, however, was an opportunity he couldn't refuse. There was the Nightmare King himself standing in the middle of the street cooing over a pair of nightmares. Really the only thing Jack could see were two pairs of glowing eyes and deeper black than he had found in weeks.

Suddenly the eyes focused on him. Shit! He urged the wind up turning into a rocket to try and pin the man before he melted away once more.

The frost sprite collided with a body then straight into the pavement. Sand hissed and roiled around him, he punched right through those horses! They were not pleased. Quickly gathering himself up he dashed back to the scene of his crime to find Pitch still on the ground. Yes!

The Nightmare King was about to stand when Jack flung himself onto him. Before the kid could even speak he witnessed such a fast range of emotions flit across that face. Surprise, confusion, disbelief, sadness? Oh the last one was definitely anger though!

Fists were coming up to hit him but Jack was quicker and pinned Pitch's hands back down to the pavement on either side. The man hissed through clenched teeth baring his fangs at the kid.

"What are you supposed to be? The Abominable Snowman?"

Yes! Good! Insults were good! At least he was talking right? The grin lit up his face underneath ever elongating icicles from his hair. "You were the one that picked this weather. I don't mix well with not frozen." He quipped back, the fact that Pitch was probably fully anticipating his arrival lost to him in the moment.

"I did no such thing."

An uncomfortable silence fell between them made worse by their position, but Jack refused to get off the man for fear of having another nearly yearlong hunt for him. Pitch broke it first with a sigh and a sidelong annoyed glance away from the boy.

"listen I-"

"Pitch we ne-"

They both stopped abruptly after starting at the same time. Pitch lifted his eyebrows in question silently refusing to be the first to speak again.

Jack sighed this time trying to steel his nerves. He was nervous and anxious trying his best no to mess his words up again. Fear trickled in at the prospect of yet another failure, he was sure Pitch noticed especially by the small jerk he felt from the man's hands.

"I uh…I-" he couldn't bring himself to do it! Squeezing his eyes shut he just went for it. "I never got to try the whips out." What?! No! That wasn't it at all! That was lame! Uuugh he could feel his blush rising to chill him even more and ice crackled as it formed from his still position in the rain.

"Jack-"

"No! No that's not it! I mean it is I want to use them. I want to-"

"Jack."

"I want to f-I want to be f-"

"Jack Frost!"

"W-what?!" His voice cracked embarrassingly but it did little to top his current humiliation. He spluttered to a stop his jaw slack. He could barely even see the man he was pinning to the ground from under all the ice.

"You are freezing us to the ground. Get. Off. Me."

"ohmigod" He was horrified.

To make is all worse He actually was stuck to the man! Ice encased his hands (and staff) over Pitch's and dripped across the ground like cooling wax. It dripped from his hair down his clothes down his back and his hips crystalizing over the Nightmare King's lap that he currently occupied. He was like a melting sculpture in reverse.

It took a fair amount of strength to ball his hands into fists to crack the shell. He felt Pitch's hands twitch at the force of his grip but the ice cracked and he wrenched his hands away. He left his staff where it was in his bluster and he quickly smacked his hips on either side to splinter the ice. Once weakened Jack tried to stand but was dismayed to find his knees were still stuck to Pitch's robes. Sitting back down onto Pitch's thighs he huffed and worked a quick punch to either limb to finally free himself. Stumbling he stood up and faltered backwards. Ice broke and shattered on the ground at his sudden movement falling from his clothes and skin his face still obscured forgotten in his mortification.

"I'm sorry! I'msosorry, how could I do that ohmygod this is awful." The litany of mumbled apologies fell from his lips as hands clenched and unclenched in nervousness.

A quiet voiceless laugh met his ears. "You look ridiculous."

And finally Jack came back to earth. Quickly he reached up and broke the icicles shrouding his face, the ones on his arms shattering from the quick motion. He spluttered, speechless.

There Pitch was, standing with Jack's staff once more in hand, ice fracturing and melting in the rain off of his own shadowy clothes and hands. "What do you want, Jack Frost?"

He deflated at the quick recognition that he let the Boogeyman of all people handle his most precious possession more than anyone he ever met, albeit unintentionally.

"S-staff" He mumbled.

"No. The other part." The staff was in both hands, a very threatening gesture.

Fear hammered at his heart. Oh god. "No Pitch. Please-"A step forward. The staff was raised higher demanding an answer; a jagged toothy grin appeared with a deep inhale. Jack just knew Pitch was eating his fear up and the thought did little to assuage the emotion.

"Friends-!" The sprite shrieked almost hysterical. He could see the Nightmare King's face falter at the shouted admission, If Jack weren't so panicked he'd scoff at how dim the man had to be, surely Jack hadn't been that good at concealing his intentions for going on 3 years now?

"Friends!" He continued "Pitch! Please don't! I just want to…to-" He didn't really know what he wanted after recognition, he never thought that far ahead.

"I do not have friends, Frost."

Oh thank god he was talking again.

"Th-then I'll be the first-"

"I mean I do not need friends."

"What? Why? Everyone needs friends." Him trying to force his point in such a situation was near suicide but he had to try. Pitch's expression grew even colder if that was possible.

"N-no look! It's really not that much! I-I uh-"He didn't know how to express it. Pitch waited, his expression relaxing just an iota. "I like it! I mean…yeah I like it the…fighting." Shit this all went so much better in his head.

"I do not understand." The words came from the king quietly and dangerously, teetering on the edge of violence still in check. They were however a buoy for Jack. He smiled once again ever so slightly. He was winning this fight now and he knew it.

"The fighting! It's the duels. The spars. The fights." The sprite tried to explain but was doing a rather poor job of it all.

"Friends do not try and kill each other you imbecile. We are not friends."

"No! You're wrong-" The hiss made him falter. Ah! Note: don't tell the Boogeyman he is wrong.

After a gulp he pressed forward once again his bravery a moment ago held onto by a thread. "I mean-" god all this back pedaling was starting to get annoying. "You don't get it. The fighting is Fun. I know fun. I have fun doing it, you do too. Don't even try to tell me it isn't. I know you were enjoying yourself ever since Belgium."

Yes! That look! Jack broke off the freshly forming crystals to clear his vision and drink up that expression. Pitch was...confused, confused and introspective. The staff fell from his other hand and the Boogeyman almost leaned against it falling into thought. Jack would wait however long it took now. He had won. His smile was calmer now and easy, it seemed the threat to his staff had passed. For now. He wouldn't be anywhere near relaxed until it was back in his grip.

He actually sat down and waited it took so long.

He nearly froze himself to the pavement again from the rain it took so long.

Finally a tired sigh floated to his ears. Instantly he picked himself off the ground shattering the ice as he went. Clearing the dripping ice from his eyes once more he stepped in hopeful. What he wouldn't give for a mere glimpse into the thoughts that fueled Pitch's expression.

"And?" He asked tentatively.

"Whoever wins will decide."

It felt like he hadn't laughed in years! Jack crowed with delight as his staff was thrown back to him. He caught it easily and gripped it in both hands. Instantly the rain around him clattered on the ground turned to hail as his emotions affected the weather around him. "That sounds perfect!"


	2. The Fight!

The icicles practically explode from his body as he bursts into the air.

He takes a moment floating over the town to slick back his not quite freed hair so the future ice that freezes there will drip down his back and not in his eyes, he wind will help on that front as well. Rolling his shoulders and cracking his neck he takes note of his severe disadvantage from his ever stiffening clothes. He will have to be extra careful on his guard since this fight has so much at stake-

Shit! He starts off poorly as the blunt end of the scythe practically beats him out of the air and he falls. He notes silently thankful that the ice does actually act like a brittle armor.

Catching himself meters below his foe he flips midair and shoots back up sparking out an icy barrage before him. He kicks out of the way as jagged shadows punch through his attack. Another volley is met evenly and rendered useless as snow & sand fall from space.

And suddenly he has to block. The sharp edge of that scythe quivering right over his shoulder, his staff just high enough to be effective. Pitch quickly twists his weapon and Jack can do little but protect his neck with his staff as the blow sends him spinning behind. He cringes a bit as some wood is shaved off its length.

Falling out of the air a few feet he uses the crook part of the staff to capture the wicked blade. Locking into the joint between sandy shaft and sandy scythe he is able to twist the weapon completely clear from the Nightmare King's grip. The thing dissolves instantly and he hears another hiss of distaste behind him before whipping around a kick. The Nightmare King goes sprawling through the sky and Jack giggles.

"Better up your game or you're stuck with me!"

A growl was his only warning and Pitch forewent re-materializing his weapon for a huge surge of sand and darkness. It came at Jack like a wall and he zipped back watching it fold in on itself. The mass reformed into a gigantic mace and swung at him. He dodged again but the thing caught his ankle and he went spiraling back. Oh the force of that might have cracked something. With a quick slash ice splintered back behind him into the oversized weapon.

After a while of dodging and weaving from the sprite Pitch got the hint that such a huge attack was too slow and imprecise. He reformed his scythe and the two fell into a long established rhythm. They wasted two hours on such evenly matched give-and-take.

Suddenly and idea! The rain was getting annoying and Jack had to work into his routine quick retreats to slick back his hair or shake his hoodie free. More than once that sharp blade dug into his icy armor and he was thankful for the inconvenience the water was. Red mingled with white as a cut on his eyebrow started to slush up from being clipped due to careless proximity. He was being super careful to try and not get his gifted sweatshirt torn to shreds and while the ice helped immensely his left hand still dripped a bit with diluted blood from a gash on his elbow.

The rain was indeed annoying but he had an idea and as he arced across the sky away from Pitch with enough distance he spun back to face his foe. Jack swept his staff gracefully overhead and suddenly all the falling water in a good ten foot radius of his body literally froze midair. The darkness was rushing towards him. If Pitch wasn't bleeding yet he would be after this!

Hundreds of bullets shotgunned from Jack's location and he was actually flung back by the force of it. They pierced the cloud of darkness and quite suddenly a huge shield like wall of sand whipped up in an arc and quickly disintegrated falling to the earth. Pitch was left vulnerable and he quickly clutched his stomach. Oh this was great!

Jack zipped right on over for close combat; he would knock him right out of the sky! Sand quickly flew back to its master as he blocked the boy with one shielded arm. Up close Jack noticed that more than just his stomach was bleeding, there were a couple more wounds on Pitch's left side to match where he couldn't deflect them quick enough. His hand was dripping from a puncture in his forearm, he had another gash higher up around his ribs, there was a sheen to his knee that Jack couldn't be sure was blood or just his pants wet from rain, but the topper was definitely the hole in his abdomen. The man's face was absolutely wild! Such a deep grimace accompanied such a glaring fire in his eyes; the gold was brighter than any star. A quick pang of guilt wracked the boy but the fascination and intoxication of his deeds stopped such remorse.

Pitch was accurately blocking and evading Jack's vigorous assault but he was definitely on the defensive, his reciprocation ever waning. A wild and wide kick caught the end of Jack's staff and the kid went scooting with it absolutely refusing to let go of the wood a second time. Using the short reprieve Jack smoothed his hair back once again before back flipping into action once more.

A few more minutes of flitting back and in to blocked swings and kicks Jack found his opening. He couldn't deny Pitch's determination to not give up and the adrenaline was running thick between both of them. With a swift feint he landed a solid jab right into the Nightmare King's wounded stomach. His icy fist covered in dark coagulated blood.

The man abruptly swooned from the agony and fell out of the air. Jack's curse was left hanging as he darted after him urging the wind to speed him up. Not missing a beat to surprise or indignation he launched as fast as he could downward. Thanking whatever gods may exist, he finally found his free arm wrapping around his downed foe to ease him to the ground.

Their landing wasn't anywhere near what one would call graceful, the speed at which Jack flew having rendered that notion obsolete. Tumbling down they connected with the pavement, hard. Jack rolled trying to shield their bodies to the best of his abilities (He was in fact well experienced with crashing from years of practice) but to little avail. Yup, His foot was definitely broken now!

With scraped bloody knees firmly on the ground he quickly dropped his staff to use both hands to position the Boogeyman lying flat on his back. Jack kneeled over him unsure of how to help. His hands fluttered over the wounds he inflicted a sharp pang of fear rising within him at his own helplessness. He couldn't patch the guy up with ice like he did himself, Pitch was so _warm_. He inwardly groaned as he started to unzip his hoodie, loath to ruin it, but if he had to make bandages he would.

A groan stopped his stripping (he was having a rough time getting his new leather sheath undone anyways) and he looked anxiously up to Pitch's face. "You ok?"

"Deus dampnes eam…" He muttered as he put his uninjured hand across his eyes.

"What?"

It took a few minutes for him to answer and by the way he gritted his teeth Jack couldn't tell if he was angry or in pain….probably both, definitely both. "Nothing…You win I suppose. What tortures of 'friendship' will I be forced to endure before you get _bored_?" A subtle caustic note emphasized the last word, but Jack hardly noticed.

"Tea parties and snowball fights!" He chirped back as he sat more comfortably assuming his help was unnecessary. The cringe and groan he received though had him hovering again not an instant later. "Joking! I was joking…"He quickly amended. "Are you sure you're ok?"

In response Pitch drew his hand away from his eyes and hovered it over his stomach. Sand slowly gathered and pressed itself into the wound staunching the blood but sending a shudder down his frame. He swatted Jack's own useless fingers away as he 'treated' his other wounds, directing the sand to his knee from the short distance. Replacing his palm over his eyes seemed to cue Jack to continue.

"Unless you're ever up for snowball fights…I was just thinking something more along the lines of what we've been doing. Just fighting. Added bonus of not fearing for your immortality every time and maybe being more…frequent? Or at least planning the duels a little…searching for three months to find you is a little tedious…." He trailed off. This still felt a bit more like doling out the terms of surrender but he'd take what he could get. Grabbing his staff from the pavement behind him he began to trace the lines in the wood waiting for an answer, eye averted.

Pitch was staring at him from between his fingers unsure of what to do, and he remained silent.

Jack sighed again and continued since his conversation partner was so willing. "And I dunno…" he mumbled quieter now. "Maybe we could…you know. Talk a bit too..."

He got a raspy condescending laugh at that. "You _are_ ridiculous."

"H-hey. I can't help that I freeze the rain." He was starting to more resemble a glacier than a boy by this point again. He flexed and removed some of the ice from his clothes and wiped reddish slush from his face. His injuries hardly seemed to faze him at all.

After another beat of silence it seemed the Boogeyman finally relented and gave in. He pinched the bridge of his nose then spread his fingers back out to rub at his eyelids. Removing his hand he stared straight up into the dark clouds blinking away stray raindrops that got too close. "Fine. I have no choice but to accept. What is it now eight to seven?"

"Yup! 8-7 from my win today. You caught up last time. You're leagues stronger than eight years ago though. I guess I'll have to watch my back now."

A ghost of a smile crossed Pitch's lips. "You have a boon of believers now yourself. You are not to be taken lightly either."

"How did you regain so much power anyways?" Jack could sit here all week asking questions, his pleasure was overwhelming. He got a compliment! A sincere admission of worth from the one person on the entire globe whose opinion might matter (Save Jamie of course), His enemy. He forcefully disregarded the fact that The Nightmare King used his loss as an excuse to accept the terms for the more favorable emotions of triumph and contentment. Pitch however didn't answer as he closed his eyes. Jack quickly got the hint. "Oh. Can I uh…help you home?"

Pitch snarled quietly in distaste "Just because you have foisted this friendship upon me does not mean that I've become weak."

"Sorry." The grin in Jack's voice was apparent.

"I'll…" The Boogeyman chewed his words for a second apparently finding them hard to voice. "I'll find you in a month…" He mumbled. Then, placing both palms on the pavement sand gathered about him. The shadows became thick and alive, diminutive eyes flickering into light about his body. Just as soon as Jack blinked Pitch disappeared, melting away into the darkness. Dreamily, the sprite wondered if the magic waited for his blink or if the timing was just that perfect. After a moment of thought though, his mind was elsewhere.

Whooping Jack darted off into the coming sunrise falling southwards to thaw out once more in warmer weather. He vaguely noted his foot would need casting but couldn't care less in the face of such developments.

A friend!

He was suddenly wild flipping through the air at the thought. This! This was the first friend HE made! This was HIS and his alone! Nothing could compare to this elation! This wasn't a colleague like the Guardians were, this wasn't an obligatory relationship between him and the children under his charge, this wasn't even the friendship between Jamie and him that, although immensely valuable, was formed by Jamie first and heartily accepted in the stress of the situation all those years ago.

This, no this he created. He forged it from thin air just like each unique snowflake. This was his greatest achievement and greatest project. Do or die, Jack Frost and Pitch Black will be _friends_!


End file.
